Jean Lambert (Verts/ALE). – Mr President, I too would like to thank the rapporteur for his work on this excellent report.

One of the key points to come out of the report is that we are not just looking at corporate social responsibility within the European Union, but beyond the Union as well, and at the behaviour of European companies elsewhere in the world – a move away from the double standards of how you operate here with one legislative framework and what you think you can get away with somewhere else.

What we have heard from the Commission on the Africa Forum is a good initiative, but we need to look much more closely at how companies behave in conflict zones. We have the leadership on the diamond process at the moment and we need to move forward on that.

I also note from the report that voluntary reporting is now stabilising and that not all voluntary reports cover supply chain compliance, which is one of the most important mechanisms we have to drive up standards, to ensure brand protection for companies behaving well and to ensure that they avoid the actions of companies which behave irresponsibly. I look forward to Parliament’s report on socially irresponsible corporate behaviour so that we can look at the contrast in how we work.